


Vitamin C can cure anything

by forestofsecrets



Category: Uta no Prince-sama
Genre: Comedy, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Oranges, Sickfic, Snowball Fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22305319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forestofsecrets/pseuds/forestofsecrets
Summary: Otoya and Ren catch a form of the flu after a snowball fight with STARISH.
Relationships: Hijirikawa Masato/Jinguuji Ren, Ichinose Tokiya/Ittoki Otoya, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 38
Kudos: 34





	Vitamin C can cure anything

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the Heartwarming Snow Festival event in Shining Live. Otoya mentions wanting to have a snowball fight with the rest of STARISH at the end of the event story so I based this off that! I also took the fact that Otoya got slightly sick during the event story into account too to write about being sick. I got sick myself around new years and it took like two weeks to recover.
> 
> I like to play a little game with my laptop while I write sometimes. I unplug the charger cord and try to finish the story before the battery dies. It helps me to think of an ending under pressure when I don't have a concrete idea about what I want to write!
> 
> Made on 1/16/2020.

When Otoya got back to the dorms, all he could talk about was wanting to have a snowball fight. He managed to bring it up in nearly every conversation somehow, referencing it one way or another. A weather app was permanently opened on his phone, watching the chance of snowfall.

It finally came, one frosty evening. Streaked with the last light of the day, the cloudless sky was unobstructed for miles, having already shed its precipitation. Soft pinks and purples blended with yellows and oranges until the stars were poking through the colourful fabric of the atmosphere. 

Otoya remained as fiery as ever, dragging Tokiya out by the arm and barely giving the taller man time to grab his coat. He successfully rounded up the other members of STARISH for a snowball fight long awaited. It wasn’t long before the first ball soared through the air, a test one made by Otoya himself. The snow was heavy, packing. It gave the misshapen lump a solid core, propelling it further and higher. 

Then, multiple snowballs flew. Teams formed quickly; alliances made. Otoya and Syo surprised everyone by not teaming up. Instead, Otoya snagged Ren as his partner while Syo bonded with Cecil. The first pair set up behind a hastily made snow fort, barely high enough to properly conceal them. The latter pair hid in snow covered bushes, offering better protection but sacrificing mobility for a fixed position. 

Snowballs were constantly exchanged between these two main forts, leaving their occupants to forget about the remaining members. When a rogue snowball came in hot, slamming the side of Ren’s face, Otoya could only keep his head on a swivel. A second incoming snowball got Otoya face first and the pair were pelted from all directions.

Laughter was on the breeze. Stray snow was kicked up and sprayed everywhere. It made its way into the clothing of the participants of the fight. During the thick of it, the chill of the melting snow was ignored and shrugged off. Once Natsuki called attention to himself, standing tall and pointing up at the sky to the incoming twinkles, did it start to be felt. No one dared to toss a snowball at him, detailing and tracing the barely there constellations with his finger, and the snowball fight came to a quiet end.

Otoya was soaked, from both sweat and snow. The tips of his hair dripped, leaving him to shake out his hair like a dog. But his eyes were bright and wild, the thrill of the evening wouldn’t wear off so easily for him. 

In fact, it would stick around for a while.

“You don’t need to wear the mask while we’re talking on the phone! My germs won’t get you through the phone!”

Otoya sounded more nasally than usual, complaining into his phone. Tokiya was on the other end of the video call, though most of his face was concealed behind a simple surgical mask. It was unfortunate how Otoya ended up getting sick the very next morning after the snowball fight. There was a soreness in his throat, a tightness in his chest, and pressure in his sinuses. Tokiya heard him cough once and immediately excused himself out of the room. Otoya hadn’t seen the other idol face to face since.

“It’s for the germs in the air. It is the middle of winter and I can’t afford to get sick, especially with two of our members down already.” 

Tokiya’s response was muffled a bit from the mask and a chuckle came from the bed beside Otoya’s own. It had taken a few days but Ren succumbed to illness as well. It was a minor form of the flu, if they had to guess, but it was enough to quarantine them in together. Misery loves company so the duo could complain about their aches together.

“But if you got sick, then I could see you again! You won’t even come to visit me.” 

It was wacky logic and Tokiya didn’t buy it but Otoya’s brain wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders. By now, Tokiya was the only one who hadn’t made the trip to visit them in their isolated room. Natsuki and Syo made the journey early together, both claiming to know of home remedies that cured a cold quick. Natsuki had made his get well quick super soup, as he called it, which was jam packed with nutrients, vitamins, and what looked strangely like an octopus tentacle. Syo had warned Otoya behind the back of his hand that eating the soup might make him worse.

But he had no other choice as the soup was poured into a bowl in front of him by a happy Natsuki. Ren had already been served and was digging in, making Syo gawk at him. Otoya was thankful for his sickness for one reason and one reason only; it dulled his senses. Meaning, he couldn’t taste the soup even if he wanted to. It was hot, its potentially only saving grace, and warmed his throat, staving off coughs if at least for a few moments. Syo’s remedy was lavender and feng shui, neither of which seemed particularly helpful.

“I talk with you everyday. I don’t need to be there in person. Besides, the others are making sure that the two of you are taken care of.”

Masato was a godsend. He came periodically or whenever Ren called for him. The first time he showed up was when Otoya was just coming out from dozing off and he nearly got a fright. Decked out in one of his aprons, a mask, gloves, and a bandanna to tie his hair back, Otoya didn’t recognize him at all.

He grew well used to the sight of him now though. Masato meant that the used tissues would be removed, the room would be aired out, and Otoya would be reminded to retake his medicine. It was like clockwork, Masato would reappear every eight hours, armed with pills and hand sanitizer. Ren tried to purr at the sight of him and ended up hacking up gooey globs of green phlegm. 

“But still…”

Every so often, Cecil would poke his head through the door, never really getting further than the frame. He said he was praying for their speedy recovery and spoke some kind of gibberish. It could have been Japanese but to Otoya’s plugged ears, it didn’t sound anything like it. He would have to ask Ren later if he remembered but he doubted that he wanted to remember anything about this experience.

“Come on, Icchi, don’t be so stingy. How can Ikki ever hope to recover without your tender love and care?”

While Ren didn’t appear on screen, his words chimed into Otoya’s conversation. They held amusement and slight curiosity, not as much as usual but enough to be identified as coming from Ren. His arrival into the conversation got Tokiya riled up, cheeks above the mask going pink. Otoya would have responded then but a cough caught him off guard. Otoya’s chest was aching from all the coughing that it hurt just to sit up. His nose ran and if he didn’t blow it out, it ran down the back of his throat and only got him coughing more. It was an endless, vicious cycle. It was one that he wanted out of right away, not being able to stand trying to clear his throat any longer. 

“He’ll recover in time, with or without me being physically present. We can’t have more people getting sick and spreading the germs around. Please try to understand.”

Overcoming his cough, Otoya could barely hear Tokiya’s answer. But he knew that clipped tone and strained voice too well. Before he could speak and diffuse the situation with his easy-going nature that was still present only with slightly more snot, Ren beat him to it.

“Alright, alright. Although… I hear that vitamin C was good for colds. Do you mind bringing some? Hijirikawa won’t be back for another two hours.”

Tokiya gave the camera an exaggerated eye roll that was for Otoya’s eyes only. Before he could issue another refusal, Otoya came in with a soft beg that seemed to make Tokiya pause. With Ren’s suggestion and Otoya’s pleas, Tokiya’s resolve cracked and he sighed and told them that he would be right over.

Ending the call, Otoya perked up. It had been however many days since he last saw Tokiya in person and no matter what he said, video calls just weren’t the same. Stuffing some pillows under him, Otoya propped himself up. He threw some of the used tissues on his bed into the trash, or tried to. Unlike snowballs, tissues were light and refused to aim well. Some missed and ended up on the floor. He wasn’t that committed to get up and throw them away properly so that would have to do.

There was a knock on the door before long. Tokiya opened it and let himself in, as neither Otoya nor Ren was feeling well enough to be entirely vertical for very long. In his hand was a giant orange and a plate. He continued to sport the mask over his face, forcing his eyes to be the only part of his face that showed expressions. They darted around the room, as if he was expecting to be ambushed by the germs at any moment. They settled on Otoya once he glazed over the discarded tissues.

“I brought you an orange. I can peel it for you but then I’ll take my leave.” The plate was set on the nightstand beside Otoya’s bed and Tokiya started to pick at the peel, digging his nails in to get a hold on it. “This is the most I can do.”

A chuckle from Ren got everyone’s attention. “While it was nice of you to bring that, that wasn’t the vitamin C that I was talking about.” Paired with a wink and a not so subtle movement of his tongue, a clear message was sent. 

Otoya felt juice from the orange spray his cheek as Tokiya’s hand suddenly squeezed the fruit, his fingers digging into the soft flesh. There was a slow, controlled exhale as orange juice dripped through Tokiya’s fingers, falling onto the ground. The room exploded with the scent of the freshly squeezed fruit, a welcome change from the stale air. The poor orange was lobbed towards Ren’s side of the room, sailing through the air with most of its peel still intact, acting as flaps. It skimmed the top of Ren’s head and collided into the wall with a noise. Bouncing off, the abused fruit finally came to rest at the bottom of the wall, now slick and shiny with its juice. 

The summoned idol was a storm, stomping out of the room in a fit, slamming the door behind him. Otoya’s fuzzy head could only understand that something had happened and didn’t get why Ren looked so smug. 

Masato had to clean up the deflated remnants of the orange and pick the pieces out of Ren’s hair when he arrived for a check in two hours later. He let Ren know just how he felt about his behaviour by pulling roughly at his hair, leaving Ren to be open about his complaints. There was no doubt that Masato was already caught up on the events of earlier.

“I don’t think the orange got that far in, ow, I think it, ow, just, ow, Hiji—Ow, ow, ow—”

Eventually, like all things, the sickness passed and Otoya and Ren were cleared to leave their confinement. The first thing Otoya did, against the better judgment of all those around him, was go outside to take huge breaths of fresh air. He was only out for mere moments before getting yanked inside by Tokiya, who was already scolding him for going outside without the proper attire.

“You just recovered and I find you out there without a coat, a hat, a scarf, or boots. Honestly, it’s like you’re asking to get sick again.” Tokiya droned on, Otoya was well aware of his lecturing. The older man removed his mask when Otoya was released so at least that didn’t come between them anymore. “We can’t have you falling ill again and—”

Tokiya cut himself off, looking surprised. One of his hands came up to press against his chest and the other went to cover his mouth. Before Otoya could ask what was wrong, he sprinted off. There was a pause until Otoya heard the telltale signs of someone throwing up, something he had gotten used to between himself and Ren.

Looked like the flu was still making its rounds. Otoya wondered how offended Tokiya would get if he offered him a little vitamin C. In the form of an orange, of course. 

What other way was there to give it?

**Author's Note:**

> Three guesses on how Toki got sick.
> 
> The vitamin C Ren was talking about is. It's. Well. You can probably guess, ya?


End file.
